3 Sakura’s
A Diamond in the Rough!
Against her will she is drawn into the Pride’s power struggle. Will Rae succumb to the exhilaration of the hunt?
In this dreamless existence, will the intoxication of liquid dreams found in fresh blood prove irresistible?
Can she win Guillaume’s confidence and love?
Or will the whole pride be destroyed by the High Council?
Well when I received this book to review, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Now unfortunately the review copy I received didn’t have chapter titles so I can’t tell you exactly where it became interesting, I just know the first few chapters, I had to drink much coffee to stay awake! It felt like useless dribble that didn’t fit in keeping with the rest of novel – a sort of filler to pack out the book to make it longer. Now don’t get me wrong, after this passed I found myself actually enjoying the story.
Before we get to the good stuff, let’s talk about the problems with this book. One, the exceptionally long beginning … My God I thought I was going to either fall into a coma or top myself, it was ridiculously long winded, boring and I didn’t get how it fitting in with the plot of the story. Yeah okay you want to know where your main female character comes from and what made her go to France in the first place which resulted in her becoming a Vampire but until you get to that part you have no idea in the slightest it’s a vampire novel! Also, the author seems to have enjoyed inserting words into the book to make it sound more ‘intellectual’ to the reader but to be honest, it kinda made the author sound precocious and full of herself – at least that’s how I felt.
Then there’s the character and plot development, or lack there of. The main character seems whiny, and pathetic throughout the novel until right near the end. I personally would have loved to have seen more of a change in Rae once she became a Vampire, I think it would have made her more likable and believable as a person. The plot development – well that starts really weak, I didn’t have a clue where the story was developing to, and then suddenly out of the blue something happens whilst on holiday, and BAM! Rae and her best friend are Vampires …. EH? It kinda threw me to be honest – it was like a bolt out of the blue for me. The way it started didn’t prepare me for what was about to happen – it didn’t quite gel for me. It was like the beginning was a boring prologue and then suddenly the story began.
Personally I think the story needs a really good look at, re-editing and have an editor look it over. There were many grammatical errors but nothing a good editor couldn’t sort out.
Now I know I sound a bit mean but that’s not my intention. Quite frankly, once the story got to the holiday and turning (or ‘metamorphosis’ – terrible word to use by the way.) into a vampire, finally the story took off. There Rae was trying to understand what has happened, figuring out her own feelings, dealing with a love that’s not returned, and that her friend had fallen in love with another vampire which left her jealous, upset, yet happy for her friend. On top of that you have conflict, breaking rules, death, murder, and a council that may kill them all for breaking these rules.
Let me tell you, once I got to that part I couldn’t put the book down – it really grabbed me, and enticed me to continue reading. It had action, love, pain, female but kicking, and heart ache. If it started from there and the story was padded out a bit more … damn this would have been an epic book to read.
One thing though, I hated the ending. I mean yeah Rae feels content, and a little happy with how things have turned out but I don’t think it could be left there. There are too many unanswered questions, unresolved situations and feelings, and for me it seemed to end quite abruptly. I was expecting to turn the page and continue reading but there was nothing more to read … WHAT? No, no, no … there needs to more. The end can’t just stop like that! It doesn’t feel finished – I need more that the basic, they lived happily ever after because there was too much tension, heart ache, etc, to have a perfect happily ever after. Chloe if you are reading this – make the book longer and end it differently or this needs to be a series of some kind.
You know, I’ve talked about the story more than anything else, I should talk a little about some of the characters. The main character Rae, who we take forever to learn her name, is … well … at the beginning, plain, boring, whiny, and a little under developed but she does break free of those persona’s once she becomes a vampire but not much … I did like her though, especially when it came to protecting a friend or her ideals on what is right.
Her friend Lyla on the other hands, was different – the complete opposite but it took a while to see that at first because of the way she was written and you didn’t get a chance to see her proper personality until further into the story. After becoming a vampire, she seemed to become more quite, reserved and well … a background character to a degree. Would have liked to have seen more scenes with just her and the guy she fell for – David, another vampire. Nice guy, another faintly background type character. Would have liked to have got to know him a little better, he seemed like he could have been quite interesting, especially having quite and not so quite encounters with Lyla.
All in all, a good story that needs more thought and development put into it … then I really feel this would be an amazing little gem of a novel. I can’t wait to see what Chloe Hammond comes up with next!!
Update : I have been informed by the author that this little gem is book one of a trilogy …. Can’t wait!
If you wanna read it, check out the links below:
Britain’s Next Best Seller – Darkly Dreaming
Find out more about the author here:
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